ERIC Number: EJ1090404
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Sep
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1030-8385
EISSN: N/A
Seating and Grouping Choices: A Chance for Making Contact
Lin, Isadora Jung-Hsiu
TESOL in Context, v25 n1 p34-51 Sep 2015
This paper discusses how international students negotiated their chances for making contact with other students in higher education and how such effort affected their educational experiences in Australia. In the past few decades, international students have formed part of the increasingly diverse multicultural student population in Australian higher education. Still, there are concerns about impacts of cultural diversity on pedagogical interactions. The data presented here were drawn from a larger interview study on first year EAL international students' educational experiences in an Australian university. The interviews were interpreted through Pierre Bourdieu's sociological concepts of field and capital. The analyses showed that EAL international students were strategic about selecting seats and group members in the classroom to enable meaningful interactions with peers. The paper concludes with pedagogical implications for optimizing students' chances for experiences of diversity, including making contact with linguistic and cultural others.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Foreign Students, Student Experience, Undergraduate Students, Peer Relationship, English (Second Language), Asians, Social Capital, Social Networks, Student Diversity, Friendship, Interpersonal Competence, Semi Structured Interviews, Classroom Environment, Group Dynamics
Australian Council of TESOL Associations. P.O. Box 2019, Smithfield, New South Wales 2164, Australia. e-mail: actaexec@yahoo.com.au; Web site: http://www.tesol.org.au/Publications/TESOL-in-Context
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A